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Ex-Safaricom boss now varsity chancellor [Nation (Kenya)]

(Nation (Kenya) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) President Uhuru Kenyatta has appointed former Safaricom Chief Executive Officer Michael Joseph as the new chancellor of Maseno University for a period of five years beginning this January.

The former Safaricom boss takes over from Prof Frida Karani who has been chancellor since 2009.

Mr Joseph will be tasked with overseeing the growth of the university that has recently begun rising in the ranking list.

Mr Joseph was credited with steadying Safaricom and steering it to the top, making it the most vibrant telecommunications company in East Africa before leaving office in 2010 after serving as CEO for 10 years during which the company introduced the widely used M-PESA money transfer service in 2007. After leaving Safaricom, he joined Vodafone as director of mobile payments in 2011.

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The new chancellor holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cape Town and specialised in license acquisition, construction of new networks, turnaround management and start-up of new operations during his career that spanned over 40 years in the telecoms industry.

Before joining Safaricom, Mr Joseph worked for telecommunications companies in Hungary, Spain, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Korea, United States, Australia and the Middle East.

Last year, Maseno was ranked third in Kenya, 31st in Africa and 2,418 globally by Webometrics, a university ranking institution. Only University of Nairobi and Kenya beat the Nyanza-based university.

The appointment is contained in the latest gazette notice published on Thursday.

The President also revoked the appointment of Titus Gateere as the chairman of the Board of the Kenya Post Office Savings Bank.

Mr Charles Ongwae has also been appointed the Managing Director of the Kenya Bureau of Standards for a period of three years, with effect from March 1, 2014.